These two are well known in the Kuwaiti blogging community, they started podcasting weeks ago becoming Kuwait’s first podcasters, and establishing Deera Chat, the first Kuwaiti podcast.
Kuwait Tribune: Provide us with basic info about yourselves, such as your education.
Musaed : Electrical engineer now working in a telecommunication company. Graduated from the states, loves horse back riding, listening to jazz music (that’s where the podcast theme came from), and watching music (leaves his age a mystery)
Ali: Biomedical Engineer now working in a Real Estate company. Graduated from the states loves work, family, tv shows, and movies, 24 years old.
Kuwait Tribune: How did it all begin,what inspired you and made you decide to have a podcast, and how does it feel being the first Kuwaiti podcasters?
A & M: Well, we didn’t know each other, till wild il 7alal jima3na ib one show heheheeh we both are podcasts listeners, and thats what we listen to usually, we don’t listen to the Kuwaiti stations because they are not as good as the podcast information and performance wise. the great thing about podcasts is that they are on demand, you listen to whatever you want whenever you want it!. Well, the question about feeling … ummm … i don’t know … it just feels normal hehehehe
Kuwait Tribune: Is it hard having to be on schedule and do this podcast every Thursday?
A & M: Actually no, if you are having fun doing whatever you do, you really don’t have a problem keeping it up
Kuwait Tribune: Is this project a long-term project or something that’s gonna last for a while then end?
A & M: Actually yes, of course, before we started we promised ourselves that onces we start there is no going back and i don’t think there will be because of the blast we are having … think about it you can talk about whatever you want … no monitoring (except from the audience) … you are your own boss … you can even eat and record … so yeah we believe we on it till podcasting goes dead hehehhe
Kuwait Tribune: What should we expect from Deera Chat podcast? Any ideas for the future such as interviews with different people from Kuwait?
A & M: Actually we are rolling out Dinar Chat next week which will be about the money in Kuwait. be tuned next Friday for the first episode. Actually we thought about interviewing people but we don’t want it to be like any other radio station where you have the actor talk about how he started his career and of course bil sodfa!! We will have different topics and yes we will have people join us when the time is right. We might interview you because you are doing something different … Kuwait Tribune … nice idea dude hehehe, so should i ask you questions now or leave it for one of our shows hehehe.
Kuwait Tribune: Are you taking this podcast as a serious project, or something for fun and to waste time with?
A & M: It is a serious and a joyful thing to do at the same time, we actually pick our topics carefully. It is absolutely not a waste of time because we both are busy like hell but we thought of something good where you can deliver constructive ideas to the younger generation in Kuwait.
Kuwait Tribune: Do you have a record for how many listeners you have? If you do then how many were they and how many did they become from your third episode till now?
A & M: We don’t have an actual subscribers number but we know that 20 GB of our episodes was downloaded so far. (an average size per episode is 10 MB)
Kuwait Tribune: Do you think that podcasting would become a phenomenon in Kuwait because of our love to talk and have conversations?
A & M: And how do you think they would be like, what’s the description that you think would fit them the most? we believe there is a future for podcasting. Who thought blogging would kick in?!?!? i, Ali, am a blogger since 2003 where people didn’t what blogging is here in Kuwait but look at how many blogs you have right now in the market …. tones … same goes to podcasting specially it is very easy to podcast and record and post your stuff online which will attract lots of people, hopefully, but may be not now … it might take Kuwaitis a year or two to know about it and once they do, Deera Chat would be there to compete.
Kuwait Tribune: If there was to be a Kuwaiti Podcast other than your’s, then what do you think it should be about?
A & M: Podcasting is like blogging but with voices talking … look at how many Kuwaiti blogs are there and what are they talking about??! sports, movies, politics, diaries, food, hobbies, you name it … so podcasting is open for everyone, and everyone can represent something his/her way with no boundaries
Kuwait Tribune: Are there moments when one of you feels that the other is taking over his turn to talk?
A & M: Working in teams is something we got used to from college … if you know what you have to do and how you do it … you then should be satisfied …. responsibility distribution is crucial no matter how small your task is … we talk for 10 minutes weekly and each one of us has his role in making the show up and running … so feeling that someone talks more than the other is part of our plan.
Kuwait Tribune: If your podcast wasn’t named “Deera Chat” then what would you name it?
A & M: Sowalif … may be ..
Kuwait Tribune: Any last words?
A & M: Well … we are looking forward to have more Kuwaiti Podcasts around. We believe it is one of the ways a person can deliver his thoughts and ideas the way s/he sees fit. So GO GO GO Kuwaiti Podcasters.
Very friendly gentelmen, and down to earth, we thank Deera Chat’s Ali & Musaed for having this interview with us and wish them the best of luck, you can listen to their podcast by subscribing to it on deerachat.wordpress.com, we also encourage you, dear reader, to have your own podcast, see the link below to learn how to easily make your own podcast, also download iTunes, the best media player there is, and the best for Podcast listeners, giving you the ability to subscribe to podcasts and downloads them autmoatically whenever a new podcast episode is released.
How To Podcast
Download iTunes
